[PatrickfromMD]

Originally Posted by Silverghost

Your dealer is telling fibbs

"Originally Posted by Fbodfather
You are, for the most part, correct.

GM or any other manufacturer is strictly prohibited from telling a dealer what he/she can or cannot sell a car for... It's called anti-trust and the United States Government takes it very seriously. When a GM employee is hired as a 'field' contact, there is a stack of papers he/she must sign. (and I DO mean a stack!) One of them is called the "Discount House Decree" from wayyyyyyyyy back in the early 50s. We cannot -- under any circumstances, tell a dealer what they can charge for a car. Shortly after that decision, the Monroney law was passed that requires that all new vehicles have a window sticker that plainly spells out the MSRP of the vehicle. (thus the term 'monroney label')

Now.......fine, you say......just don't give the dealer any more cars! Wrong again. That is called "mal-distribution' -- and again, the manufacturer is strictly prohibited from "cutting a dealer off" -- so to speak. We must have a distribution system in place that allocates product and it must withstand court scrutiny...............for instance: You might go into a small Chevy dealer --- or Honda dealer, for that matter -- and give him/her a deposit on a hot selling model. (think Z06) The dealer gets product allocated to him based on sales history. Not TOTAL sales history, but history on that particular vehicle line. (in cases of a brand new nameplate, the allocation is usually a blend of one or more existing vehicle lines balanced with a market study) --I digress. In the case of Corvette, we provide dealers with a letter that tells them how many Corvettes they will receive in a given timeframe. If the dealer takes 15 sold orders -- and he/she is only going to get 5-- there are going to be 10 very upset customers....and here's the clincher----we can't tell you "well, he's only getting 5, but go to "Dealer B" 'cause he's getting 24!" -- 'cause that's against the law as well.

So you see, my friends........this isn't necessarily an easy business! Further, I can see that Dodge and Chevy are going to have problems meeting demand for the Challenger and Camaro -- and that in two years, we will, in some cases, be highly criticized on this very site -- 'cause someone isn't getting their Challenger or Camaro in a 'timely' manner."



http://web.camaross.com/forums/showp...17&postcount=6

Thankyou for commenting on this subject. BTW, I know I wrote Dealer “would not” but actually I meant he said he “could not” go below MSRP per GM. I did get him to agree (on the phone at least) if allocations change then things are open for discussion. He said a deposit is refundable. I think the smart move is to make a deposit and place an order. Some where I will have to sign on the dotted line and I may notate “as per your instruction that GM will not allow above MSRP sales for this allocation”. If there is some place I can include this, I can use it as a bargaining chip later perhaps ? thoughts? Perhaps as things get closer to delivery, things will ease up and they can work more on price (or from recent rumors, maybe Chrysler will be calling the shots by then hehe....just kidding, I sure hope not) . I suppose when the time comes , show them the antitrust laws (but I don’t want them to say, ok, we will give your slot to someone else. Its going to be a delicately played out deal with the almighty dealer I suppose.